Around the Pac
Finally! Conference play began in earnest this past weekend, and I’m excited to get to it. Frankly, I’ve had enough of Pac-10 teams playing Northern Arizona and Idaho State. Now, nothing shocking occurred in the opening slate of games, but perhaps we learned a bit about how the middle of the Pac will shake out.
- USC began its defense of the co-conference title by blowing out Washington State at home, its 35th consecutive home victory. I watched a bit of this game before it got really ugly (how’s 47-14 sound?), but I don’t have anything terribly interesting to say about it. Wazzu isn’t awful, but USC is #1 for a reason, and most of those reasons were on display Saturday night. What’s a little more interesting is this little tidbit from Ted Miller’s always-excellent Pac-10 notebook for ESPN (published last Thursday): "Washington State opened its season at Wisconsin, so it has played on the road against a good team. But, after looking at film of USC, Cougars coach Bill Doba let a moment of pure honesty slip out. "[USC] would kill Wisconsin," he said."
- Meanwhile, Cal began its defense of the co-conference title by blowing out Arizona at home, its 10th consecutive home victory. However, it was hardly that simple. Cal went up big early, then got sloppy and started giving some of the lead back. Arizona got as close as 11 (and it could have been a lot closer had a long touchdown run not been called back by a face-mask penalty) before Cal was able to punch in a final touchdown and win it 45-27. Part of the problem can certainly be blamed on injuries which have sapped Cal’s depth; if Cal can get past Oregon next Saturday, perhaps the bye weekend will help the Bears get healthy.
With Stanford showing more life than they did the last couple years, Arizona might be the worst team in this conference. They’ll win a couple games, but I think that really speaks to the depth of the Pac-10, as well as the odds of anyone (even USC) of running the conference table this year.
- Speaking of Stanford, they certainly showed some life while hosting the Ducks on Saturday, although that life was almost entirely contained within the second quarter. Oregon went up 21-3 early, then fumbled 3 times en route to giving up 4 consecutive touchdowns to Stanford in quarter number two. Down and embarrassed at the half, the Ducks ripped off a 31-0 second half on their way to what the 55-31 final score might indicate was an easy victory. Stanford certainly looks like a competitive football team this year, something that you certainly couldn’t say of Walt Harris’ teams; they might not win many games, but if they catch someone napping, they might score themselves a big upset or two.
- UCLA and Washington had a slugfest followed by a shootout at the Rose Bowl. Defense was the game in a first half that ended in a 10-10 tie. In the third quarter, the Bruins managed to put up a couple of touchdowns that allowed them to survive the fourth quarter shootout that ensued, 44-31. In my opinion, this was a pretty ugly game to watch. Miscues and overthrown passes were par for the course. Jake Locker looks legit, but he’s still a freshman, and that definitely showed in some of his decision-making. The Bruins can play some D, and their RBs (Bell and Markey) both flashed something special, but as of now, I have no idea who their quarterback will be — backup Pat Cowan left the game with a leg injury, and the third-stringer, a walk-on, didn’t attempt a pass in relief. Still, after watching the Bruins for the second time in three weeks, I have to wonder: how in the heck did they ever lose to Utah? Inexplicable.
- Finally, Arizona State beat Oregon State in Sun Devil Stadium, a place OSU has still never won at. Despite being spotted a 19-0 first quarter lead (including a snap sailing over the punter’s head for a safety), Oregon State couldn’t hold on, eventually falling 44-32. Oregon State is looking more and more like last year was a high-water mark (freshman QBs in the Pac-10 are rarely a good idea), while ASU finally broke into the top 25 with the win. Still, given ASU’s schedule (San Jose State, Colorado, San Diego State, Oregon State, all at home), I still couldn’t tell you whether they’re any good or not, and next week’s trip to Stanford probably won’t tell us much either. Follow that with @Wazzu and home v. Washington, and ASU will very likely be 7-0 when they host Cal in late October.
| UCLA | 2 | 0 |
| Arizona State | 1 | 0 |
| California | 1 | 0 |
| Oregon | 1 | 0 |
| USC | 1 | 0 |
| Arizona | 0 | 1 |
| Oregon State | 0 | 1 |
| Washington | 0 | 1 |
| Washington State | 0 | 1 |
| Stanford | 0 | 2 |
Other games of interest:
- Tennessee beat Arkansas State 48-27. No one noticed.
- Colorado State lost at Houston 38-27. If you’ll remember, Oregon kicked Houston’s butt in the first week of the season. Just saying.
- Louisiana Tech had the week off to think about the beat-down we laid on them. Some R&R is always good for the mind and the body.
- Notre Dame continues to reach new lows, starting 0-4 for the first time EVER. UCLA and USC both get them in the next month, but by then, those wins won’t mean much. However, it does mean that perhaps Stanford has a shot when they host the Domers over Thanksgiving.
- Oregon’s win over Michigan looks better after Michigan beat Penn State 14-9, and Washington’s win at Syracuse looks a lot better after the Orange shocked Louisville 38-35.
- However, USC’s victory over Nebraska doesn’t look quite as impressive after Nebraska nearly lost to Ball State 41-40.
Also, a final note: if you haven’t heard yet, ESPN College GameDay will be broadcasting from Eugene on Saturday. Are you hyped yet!??!?
The Bears Are Roaring (Blog Reactions to Arizona)
Jason Snell, Excuse Me For My Voice: “I also didn’t like Mike Stoops very much. He lost it a few times on the sidelines, which didn’t impress me. I really appreciated his playcalling in last year’s Cal-Arizona game, where he boldly w…
Trackback by Bears Necessity — September 24, 2007 @ 5:27 pm
You say that ASU “finally broke into the top 25″ like they’ve been out of the polls since 1987…they were ranked 22nd when we (ranked 23rd) beat ‘em last year.
Oregon would have creamed Colorado State just as badly as Cal would have creamed Houston, so don’t go trying to make a caustic “Oregon beats mediocre teams better than Cal” statement to make everyone worry about nothing.
And be careful about your smug statement toward Louisiana Tech: remember, if Cal loses, you’ll have “the week off to think about the beat-down [Oregon] laid on [you].” But, hey, no worries…”Some R&R is always good for the mind and the body,” right?!
A loss right before a bye, and one in the glare of College Game Day cameras no less, makes for a looooooooooooong two weeks! Perhaps an extra week for another winning team to jump our already lowered ranking, eh?!
All this, and I’m a Cal fan…can you tell I’m nervous?? Just saying.
Comment by CardinalSinz — September 24, 2007 @ 7:16 pm
Just a week ago, Corso put Cal at #5 on his top five teams. Historically, Corso loves on Cal BIG TIME–any of you recall his putting Cal in the national championship game last year? Herbstreit is also a usual rider on the Cal bandwagon.
My question is…which head will Corso be wearing come 8:58 Saturday morning: Oski or Donald??
Doesn’t Corso usually go with the home team when making his Game Day pick? Doing so next time will go against everything he says and feels about Cal.
Given the parity of both teams–it’s not like we’re Rice going up against Texas (I had to give that “lowly” team some thought…I was going to use Syracuse, then Duke, then…)–it’s reasonable to all involved that the home team here is far from being the better opponent.
Cal offense (seventh in the Pac-10) vs. Oregon’s defense (eighth) and
Duck offense (first) vs. Bear defense (fourth) makes for a very interesting match-up. I just hope Corso remains true to his past comments.
Bring him the head of Oski!!
Comment by TrumanHugh — September 24, 2007 @ 8:03 pm
Corso did not include Cal in his Top5 after last week’s win.
Comment by HydroTech — September 24, 2007 @ 9:34 pm
Corso DID put Cal on his top 5 list LAST week (after the Louisiana Tech game), Hydro, to which I think Truman was referring. Corso made a comment about how much he liked “the way Cal played football out there” and our very speedy offense. I don’t recall Corso even offering a list this last weekend (if he did, I missed it), so don’t be so quick to criticize!
Comment by CardinalSinz — September 25, 2007 @ 8:18 pm